Pour Être le Dauphin
by Jiyle
Summary: The Fire Nation took over the world anyway, in the end, but not in the way you would expect. General Iroh explains the importance of bloodlines and inheritances. No longer a oneshot
1. Tired

**If I owned Avatar, I would be a lot richer and know a lot more about my own culture.**

**This is what I came up with at 11 o'clock last night while half asleep. According to my sister's headcanon, Commander Bumi is married to Zuko's daughter, whom we've named Ursa for convenience, and Kya is married to the chief of the Northern Water Tribe.**

**I wrote and published this before the release date for Season Two could even come out, so if there's something canonically wrong (wow, it's actually a word!), I had no way of knowing that.**

**Edited on August 16, 2013. Minor changes to help it flow, and a few added phrases to emphasize Iroh's exhaustion.**

* * *

Ah, good morning, Avatar Korra. What can I do for you? Oh, you've brought your friends as well? Hm. Would any of you like some tea? I was just making some. I'm sorry for the mess. With everything that's been happening, I've had very little time for anything but work. I'm very tired. Yes, Avatar Korra, in cases of extreme exhaustion, we firebenders _can _get tired, even if the sun's out.

Are you alright, Miss Sato? You look like you've been crying… I have a hankerchief… No? I'm sorry, Miss Sato, have I done something to offend you?

Mako, was it? It's the engagement she's worried about? And that's why you're all here? I don't see why you think barging into my private quarters on my ship is going to help anything. If you want to do something about it, you should be speaking to my parents or Miss Sato's father.

… My apologies, I'd forgotten about Hiroshi Sato's involvement in the Amon debacle. I'm very tired, you see. Are you sure none of you would like some tea? It's a special blend of ginseng from the Jasmine Dragon. I beg your pardon, but what do you hope to accomplish by coming to see me? As terrible as it is that Miss Sato was never informed of our betrothal, there isn't much I can do about it.

I'm the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, Avatar Korra. The Royal Family has been practicing arranged marriages for centuries. My great-grandparents' marriage was one to increase the power of the royal family; my grandparents' marriage was one to strengthen the connection between the Royal Family and our nobility; my parents' marriage is one to ease global tension in an new era of peace. Every marriage in my family has a purpose, and mine will be no different. Please do not ask me why.

Do I like being "trapped and not allowed to choose my own wife?" Hmm… Forgive my insensitivity – I'm very tired – but I can't say that I really feel much of anything for it. I've known since I was a child that my wife would be chosen for me. Why don't I do anything? It's never worked out very well before. My life's always been planned out to the tiniest detail – any deviation would earn me a swollen hand, a sore ear, or a stinging backside. Or any combination thereof.

I don't think you understand, Avatar Korra. There are a lot of burdens that my family carries, the most important of them being the necessity of an heir. I am in my prime of my life, and as I grow older, the need for a child increases. I'm sad to say that my inheritance isn't something to sneeze at, which adds even more pressure.

You still don't understand? Why is my inheritance so important? Giving you the short version will make you angrier, so I suppose we all better sit down. To fully understand this, you need to have a more thorough understanding of the leaders of the world and how they got to where they are. Are you sure you don't want some tea? … Well, Avatar Korra, since you seem the most disgruntled, I suppose I should first explain to you the part that would affect you the most.

_Water_

Do you know who the current chief of the Southern Tribe is? Yes, Master Katara, your waterbending sifu and my grandmother. She is, at the moment, Chieftain Katara. The title "Chief" in the Southern Tribe is hereditary through the male line whenever possible. Because Councilman Sokka, who became _Chief_ Sokka shortly following the death Chief Hakoda (and Avatar Aang, but that's irrelevant), never had any children, the title and responsibilities fell to his sister. When she dies, may she live for years to come, they will pass onto my father, and then to me. Forgive me if I sound ungrateful for it. I'm very tired.

You know, of course, that the chief of the Northern Tribe is Chief Unalaq, and that his wife is Kya, my father's sister. Yes, Avatar Korra, I suppose you could say that we're cousins, even while discounting the blood of two avatars that flows through me. Thankfully, they have two healthy children – though I will admit that Cousin Desna and Cousin Eska are a bit strange – so I have nothing to worry about with them. Surprisingly, Aunt Kya's marriage was a love match, and in no way arranged. Very hard to find amongst world leaders.

_Earth_

Custody of a child is a very serious thing in the Fire Nation. When I was four, my mother made me memorize who would take care of me if something happened to her and my father, and in what order. Family members would take precedence, so if I was orphaned while still a minor, my grandfather would raise me. He's my only other relative on Mom's side, so then I would go to Dad's. Councilman Tenzin would take care of me, because of the cultural connection Republic City has to the Fire Nation. If something happened to him and his wife, I would live with Aunt Kya in the Northern Tribe. Then I would go with Gran-Gran in the South Pole. If I have no family left, I would go to my godmother. Which means to say I would live with Lin Beifong – _yes_, she is my godmother. I'm sorry if I'm being snappish. I'm very tired. My parents wanted my godparents to be people they trusted, and they all grew up together. I don't have a godfather – they couldn't think of anyone else they trusted with me – so if all else failed, I would live in the Earth Kingdom or Fire Nation Courts.

Why the Earth Kingdom? I guess it's time for another history lesson. You all know the history of Princess Azula, may she rest in peace, and probably the fact that, five years after Sozin's Comet, she regained her sanity. She still had the occasional therapy session, or so my grandfather tells me, but she was sane. So soon after the end of a century-long war, the Fire Nation was scrambling to do whatever it could to prove it wasn't evil. To that end, my grandfather arranged a marriage between his sister and the Earth King's only son, Crown Prince Shuu.

Princess Azula was happy. She had learned to love her husband and her new country – she had always had an eye for Ba Sing Se, and now she could live as its princess. Grandfather describes just over sixty years of bliss for her. She had a daughter, Princess Kiesla, who in turn had two sons, Kuei and Puyi. By then, she was the Queen Consort of the Earth Kingdom, as Earth King Kuei LII had passed on.

But then tragedy struck. A virus spread throughout Ba Sing Se, wiping out hundreds of people every week. It was from the Fire Nation, a flu we usually get and get over when we're children. The Earth Kingdom didn't have the same immunity we do, and they died swiftly. Earth King Shuu was the first of their royal family to contract it – he was dead within days. Princess Kiesla caught it from her father, but she had been recovering from a fever, so she died the day after they got back the diagnosis. Kuei and Puyi caught it in their grandfather's last days, and lasted only two weeks longer, managing to outlive their father by five days. The Queen Consort was now the Dowager Queen, and was responsible for the entirety of the Earth Kingdom.

A year after her coronation, she came to the Fire Nation for diplomatic reasons – three years ago, now. I was home at the time of her visit, on the rare occasion I was granted leave from the United Forces. I remember she was distant, still caught in the depths of her grief. She refused to wear any color but white, and had five separate shrines set up in her room for each of her family members.

The night before she was to return to the Earth Kingdom, the Dowager Queen died of her own will. A servant went to rouse her to prepare for the journey, and found her dead with an empty vial of poison in her hand. _(I remember the screams. "The queen is dead! The queen is dead!" How awful that they still ring in my ears.)_ Three years ago, my grandfather resigned as Fire Lord and passed the position on to my mother. For some reason, they could not find the Earth King's relatives, so the throne went to their queen's brother.

When my grandfather dies, may he have long years left, my mother will become the first reigning Earth Queen to be born to the line in four hundred years, and then it will be me.

But the Earth King doesn't rule the entire Earth Kingdom. Omashu is a city-state with its own governement and ruler. The last king of Omashu was King Bumi, my father's namesake, who died forty years ago, may he find enjoyment in confusing the spirits rather than us mere mortals. King Bumi had had children and grandchildren, but none of them could understand him. "Why do you just sit there?" they asked him during the days of the war. "The Fire Nation is knocking at our door and seeks to conquer us. Will you just let them?" He replied, "Yes." He was an eccentric man with genius bordering on insanity, and it took a lot of patience and creativity to understand what he meant to do. Patience and creativity that his descendents didn't have. They grew exasperated with him, and left to fight the Fire Nation. None of them survived.

So King Bumi needed an heir. He wanted someone who could understand him – someone who could wait and listen for the right moment, someone who wouldn't drive his kingdom into the ground through recklessness and impatience. He wanted someone who was unique and wasn't afraid to show it, flaunt it even. He found what he wanted in Toph Beifong, so he named her his heir.

When she died, all of her assets went to her only daughter, Lin Beifong. But as you know, Lin Beifong never had children. She had been in love with Councilman Tenzin, and she was crushed when he left her, no matter how unintentional it was. She swore to me, fifteen years ago, that she would never get married, and she would never have children. A Beifon, I am told, always keeps her word._  
_

As I said, she's my godmother. She's written into her will that everything she has will go to me. That includes the throne of Omashu and the lucrative Beifong Estate. Unless she changes it before she dies, I will be the King of Omashu.

_Fire_

For several generations, my grandmother's family loathed the thought of arranged marriages. The roots of that are in the past of Lady Kanna, my great-great-grandmother. She was born in the midst of the Hundred Year War in the Northern Tribe. Her parents had arranged a marriage for her with the best waterbender of her generation – Master Pakku, who later became Gran-Gran's teacher, ironically enough. Lady Kanna didn't want to be forced into a marriage that she couldn't consent to by her own free will, so she left the North Pole and journeyed to the South, something I imagine was incredibly dangerous for a sheltered young woman in the middle of a war.

Gran-Gran didn't learn this until years later, even after she received Lady Kanna's old betrothal necklace as an heirloom. She learned to hate arranged marriages just as much as her grandmother did, but that changed.

My mother, Fire Lady Ursa, is the Fire Nation's only royal child of her generation. Because of that, the choice of who her husband would be was a very serious question. She would lead the first generation in a century to not grounded in war, and it was vital that she marry someone who would not only reinforce the idea of peace but someone whom the court would approve of. In other words: a foreign prince.

The problem was: there hardly were any. The heir of the Northern Tribe was already engaged to be married. The Earth King only had a daughter her age. Omashu had only a girl for an heir. The _only_ possible candidate for marriage was the grandson of the Chief of the Southern Tribe, the great-grandson of the woman who ran from her betrothal.

My grandfather, Fire Lord Zuko, was desperate. He sent letters, phone calls, gifts, bribes, all manner of things to get them to agree. But Gran-Gran didn't want any of her children in a loveless marriage, and Avatar Aang didn't really understand the concept of marriage to begin with. It wasn't until Grandfather came in person and got down on his knees to beg that they listened. "He is the only one," he said. "I don't have another choice. If Ursa and Bumi don't marry, the only choice would be to marry her to one of my nobles' son. I've seen what they're willing to do – my court is cruel and merciless and will stop at nothing to get what they want. They can't stand the thought of a reigning Fire Lady. She wouldn't survive." They were engaged later that week. _(If only they hadn't. Mother might have been able to have another child.)_

I have no siblings or living cousins on my mother's side, so I'm the only heir my country has. I'm very, very tired.

_Air_

The Air Nomads have no concept of inheritance. At first glance, you would think that would mean I don't have to worry about them. Unfortunately, while they don't understand inheritances, they understand legacy. Avatar Aang fathered a daughter and two sons, one of whom is my father. A great man, bender, and peacekeeper, his legend falls unto those of us who can claim connection to him. I'm sure you understand what I mean by this, Avatar Korra.

His isn't the only legend I have to live up to. The grandson of three war heroes with the blood of two avatars running through my veins. Grandson of one tribe's chief and nephew of the other. The heir of the man who turned around a hundred years of war.

I'm very tired. Do you understand the pressures I live with, Avatar Korra? Yes, you might be the avatar, but that only means you are a balance keeper and trusted with great bending ability. You don't have to be burdened with leading the lives of thousands, burdened with the political machinations of the world _unless you choose to be_. I, on the other hand, live with the knowledge that one day, I'll have to deal with the pressures of reigning over most of the world. By the time I die and join my ancestors in the Spirit World, I will be the Fire Lord, the Earth King, the Southern Chief, and the King of Omashu. I can only thank my ancestors for not burdening me with the leadership of Republic City, the Air Temples, and the Northern Tribe as well. _(Oh, but the gratitude is bitter and rotten. The weight on my shoulders force me to my knees, slave to my many peoples.)_

I wonder what Fire Lord Sozin would have thought if he knew that, even if we lost the war, even without _violence_, the Fire Nation would one day rule the world. But I will be the only one of my line to control so much of the world. I understand that, to achieve balance, I must have at least four children to split my burdens with, and that they will start a new era of their own. But first I must have a wife. Unfortunately, as a prince, duke, and general several times over, I find it hard to find the time to sleep at night, much less find a girl to court and wed. I know my duty is to my people, to give them a stable line to lead them, and I know I have no choice but to allow my family to find my spouse.

Sometimes, I delude myself, telling myself that _(maybe)_ it's for the best. My mother tells me that relations between nations have gotten even stronger since I was born, that many world leaders went from being fond family members or childhood friends to state rulers who _share an heir_. Through me, the world's gotten closer, and the people of the world celebrate me as their prince, their general, their future sovereign. If only it lessened the pressure put on me.

If you truly do not want this engagement, Miss Sato, I'm sure we can manage to convince my mother to annul it. Beyond my assistance in the Equalist incident, that would erase any connection you might have had to my family, and you would be free to marry whomever you choose. I fear, however, that I will never be able to free myself from the shackles that bind me.

I'm very tired.


	2. Still Life

**I do not own anything**

**Something of a drabble I came up with while rereading this fic.**

* * *

_Titled: The Birth of Iroh. Son of the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation. Son of the Future Chief of the Southern Water Tribe.  
_

_The heroes of the Hundred Year War stood in the large room with their children. An exhausted woman laid on the bed, smiling as if she had just won the moon. Her husband grinned and held her hand beside her, and her parents stood on the other side of the bed. Her father was holding a tiny bundle of fabric, and everyone else in the room seemed to be jostling to peek into it. A happy, family picture that would become a famous sign of peace and unity amongst the nations._

**皇太子**

The loud, nasally cries of a child rang out in the birthing room, replacing the screams of a young woman as she fell limp against the bed, her grip loosening on her husband's abused hand. Servants rushed around, cheering as the midwife cleaned the child and wrapped the squalling red bundle before approaching the new mother, beaming.

"Congratulations, your highness. A healthy son." She passed the boy to his mother's reaching arms. Crown Princess Ursa smiled down at her son, dropping a kiss onto his head.

The door burst open as new grandparents, aunts, and uncles came in, chattering happily to see the new baby. A photographer – the lone man who wasn't family or staff who was allowed to see the new royal – eagerly positioned his camera, ready to take the first photograph of the child who would, after his mother, one day be his sovereign.

One of the grandfathers smiled when his daughter offered him the baby, ignoring the shrieks and screams as the boy tried out his new lungs.

"Welcome to the world, Prince Iroh."

* * *

_Titled: Helping Auntie Lin_

_An amateur photograph of a pretty young woman giving a shaky smile to a six-year-old boy. There are not many discernible details, because the picture was taken somewhere with poor lighting. The only two copies are the private property of Police Commander Lin Beifong, heiress apparent to the Beifong Estate and the city-state of Omashu, and Prince Iroh, son of the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation, son of the Future Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, and (as of this picture,) heir presumptive to the Beifong Estate and Omashu's throne._

**皇太子**

"Auntie! Wait! Where are you goin'?" Iroh called as he chased after his godmother. Auntie Lin disappeared into a doorway that slammed right after her, but that was okay. It only led to an empty guest room.

He slipped into the room, careful to close the door after him cuz Auntie Lin didn't want the door open, and Mama said it was polite to do what others wanted. He squinted in the dark (they didn't have light bulbs in that room yet, and neither of them could light the candles without matches) and opened the curtains, letting the moonlight stream in before hopping next to his godmother on the platform the led to the bed.

She had her face in her hands, and didn't move when he tugged at her sleeve.

"What's wrong, Auntie?" he asked worriedly. "Why're you cryin'?" She _never _cried. 'Cept that time when they all said bye to Grandpa Aang, but everyone cried that day, so that was okay.

"It's nothing, Iroh," she said roughly, though he could hear her voice was rough and heavy. "I'm fine. Just – just a little upset."

"Nuh-uh," he declared, wagging a finger at her. "You're cryin'. You _never ever _cry! Something's gotta be wrong! Please tell me, Auntie?" She finally moved her hands away from her face, turning to face him.

"It's grown up things, Iroh." She shook her head. She hesitated. "You know, Iroh, you're going to have all the things I have one day, just like you'll have all of your parents' things someday."

"Really?" His eyes lit up with excitement. "Like your bendin' suits and stuff?" She nodded, and he jumped up, whooping and laughing. Soon, though, he calmed down as a thought struck him. "But what 'bout _your_ kids, Auntie Lin? Mama said that everyone gives stuff to their kids before anyone else. What'll you give them?"

Her mouth thinned. "I'm not going to have kids, Iroh."

His jaw dropped. "But why not? Gran-Gran said that you're gonna have kids with Uncle Tenzin!"

Her eyes brightened oddly, and he worried he had upset his godmother. "Uncle Tenzin wants to have kids with someone else, Iroh."

"But why?"

"He loves her. He doesn't love me."

"Whaaaat?" He frowned in disapproval, and Auntie made a funny noise. He tried to think of a solution to such a terrible problem, and nodded firmly when he came up with one. He scooted closer to her and wrapped his arms around her as best they could. "_I_ love you, Auntie Lin."

She didn't say anything for a few seconds, but she returned the hug. "Thank you, Iroh. I love you too."

Neither one of them noticed the photographer sneaking out the door.

* * *

_Titled: The Coronation of Fire Lady Ursa_

_A magnificent Fire Nation courtyard is filled with dignitaries and courtiers. A woman in her late-thirties is kneeling on the dias, and a Fire Sage holds a five-pronged crown piece ceremoniously above her, the first reigning Fire Lady in two hundred years. Her father, husband, and son were off to the side of the dias, the former wearing a headpiece that signifies his status as the Earth King and the latter two kneeling in deference to the woman. A lesser sage fix a slightly less ornate crown piece into the new Prince Consort's hair while a third carefully transfers the crown piece that once belonged to Avatar Roku from mother to son to show his new status as Crown Prince. The entire family wears white, and none of them are smiling. A powerful portrait based off of a photograph. It now hangs somewhere in the Fire Nation Royal Palace.  
_

**皇太子**

"All hail Fire Lady Ursa!"

Eighteen-year-old Iroh didn't watch as the masses before him got on their knees, giving a full _kowtow_ bow before his mother. He knelt on one knee, mirroring his father next to him. His grandfather stayed standing, and merely inclined his head – formal acknowledgement from one head of state to another. He could still smell the scent of his great-aunt's ashes lingering in the courtyard. Her funeral had been just that morning, and he was still getting over the shock of it. Her remains were to be sent back to the Earth Kingdom later that week. His grandfather would be accompanying her, leaving the rest of his family to… to…

_"Adjust to our new station."_ He grimaced at the thought. He had thought that he would be coming home for a brief break, smiling and waving a bit for the crowds as they cheered for the safe return of their lieutenant-prince. It had changed so suddenly. He had been woken by a servant screaming a few days ago – the entire palace had. All of a sudden, his father was called home, dignitaries were arriving by the hundreds, _and his aunt was dead._

He stilled as a sage stood behind him, securing the Crown Prince's headpiece into his hair with a quiet _shink! _It had taken the servants a while to fix it into the traditional topknot, and the kind Lady Mao who had been fixing his hair since he was born had scolded him for keeping it so inconveniently short, heedless of the United Forces' protocol. He would have to be promoted before he was allowed to grow it out.

His father, who had probably never gotten a haircut since he was promoted to captain a few years ago, paced a few feet forward before kneeling again and uttering a load of nonsense in High Court about loyalty and servitude and whatnot. Iroh vaguely noted that it had a certain accent to it, despite the fact that he had been speaking it for the past twenty years or so.

He absently fiddled with a ring on his right hand, newly given to him as a future Earth King (and wasn't _that_ scary?) as a ceremonial heirloom that was to be worn at all functions when he represented the Earth Kingdom and blah blah blah. The weight of the crown piece in his hair was uncomfortable, and the gaudy ring felt odd as well. A glance upward reminded him of how bizarre his grandfather looked with the Earth King's crown.

His father stopped speaking and returned to his place, and Iroh recognized that as his signal to make his own vows. He stood and moved until he was a step or so in front of his mother, kneeling again.

_"My mind and body I give to my lady, so that I may serve my great country to my dying breath…" _He rambled off the rest of the words, spoken in a formal, ancient language that a bare few of his officers would understand before repeating it in a more modern (but no less formal) tongue. When he ran out of oath to speak, he fell silent.

_"We accept your pledges to our land. Rise and stand beside me, Crown Prince Iroh,"_ his mother softly responded. He raised his head, and a small voice in the back of his mind remarked how _strange_ his mother looked – the crown piece of the Fire Lord in her hair, the beads of the Earth Kingdom's Crown Princess around her neck, and such a _peculiar_ expression on her face. He gripped his forearms under the heavy ceremonial robes and straightened, taking his place behind his mother and grandfather.

His mother watched over the crowd as a herald called something and a gong started sounding. She looked as if she held the weight of the world on his shoulders, so desolate and empty. It hit him then, and it was only the result of United Forces training that kept him from breaking down from the realization. Here was his destiny, standing before him. Power at the death of a loved one, more and more gained as each family member passed. The Fire Nation with his grandfather, the Earth Kingdom with his mother, the Southern Tribe with his father, and Omashu with his godmother.

"The good days are over now," his father whispered, and the citizens began chanting while their royal family watched on.

_"__My life I give to my country. With my hands I fight for Fire Lady Ursa and our forefathers before her. With my mind I seek ways to better my country. And with my feet may our March of Civilization __continue."_

_"Nothing's going to be the same."_

* * *

**The concept of High Court is borrowed from "Embers." I personally enjoy the thought of there being a court language that is separate from the official language of a country (primarily French in our world, I think. Latin and French have been used as common trade languages in the past). Embers is a long fanfiction, but I find it a fascinating, realistic, and complicated (I really love complex and layered fics), and spent two weeks trying to read it. (I had to take several breaks due to the intensity). I highly recommend it to those of you who haven't read it.**

**皇太子 is "Crown Prince" in Chinese. "Pour Être le Dauphin" means "to be the crown prince" in French. (Well, I _think _that's what it is. May not be grammatically correct. But you probably don't care about that.) I wanted to have some actual text as a primary line break, the secondary line break being the standard one Fanfiction. net gives us, so I looked it up. I have no way of knowing if the Chinese (Mandarin? No idea) is accurate.  
**


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